‘Fatima’ Tops ‘Mustang’ to Win Big at France’s Cesar Awards

Philippe Faucon’s small-scale immigration drama “Fatima” has been named the best film of 2015 at the Cesar Awards, France’s version of the Oscars.

The film, which screened in Cannes’ Directors Fortnight section last year and deals with an immigrant woman struggling to raise two daughters, scored an upset victory over Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s favored Oscar nominee “Mustang.”

“Fatima” also won awards for breakout actress Zita Hanrot, and for Faucon’s adapted screenplay.

“Mustang” had to settle for awards as the year’s best first film, and for its original screenplay, film editing and music.

Other contenders for the top honor included Jacques Audiard‘s Cannes Palme d’Or winner “Dheepan” and two films that had led all movies with 11 Cesar nominations: Arnaud Desplechin’s “My Golden Years” and Xavier Giannoli’s “Marguerite.”

Desplechin did win the award for Best Director, while “Marguerite” won for actress Catherine Frot and for its costumes, production design and sound.

Last year’s Oscar Best Picture winner, “Birdman,” won the award for best foreign film in a category that also included “Son of Saul” and “Youth.”

The award for the best animated feature went to Mark Osborne’s “The Little Prince,” which premiered at Cannes last year but has yet to be released in the U.S., while the documentary award went to Melanie Laurent and Cyril Dion’s “Demain.”

The lead acting awards were given to Brot and to Vincent Lindon for “The Measure Of A Man” (he was also named best actor at Cannes last year), while supporting honors went to Benoît Magimel for “Standing Tall” and Sidse Babett Knudsen for “L’Hermine” (“Courted”).

The Roosevelt only played host to one Academy Awards: the very first one, in 1929.

Ambassador Hotel

The Ambassador is best known as the place where Robert Kennedy was shot, but it was the site of six Oscar shows between 1930 and 1943.

Biltmore Hotel

The Biltmore in downtown Los Angeles was the setting for eight ceremonies between 1931 and 1942.

Grauman's Chinese Theatre

The Chinese took over for a more subdued Oscars during World War II, handling three shows beginning in 1944.

Shrine Auditorium

The biggest of the Oscar venues, at 6,000 seats, the Shrine was the site of two shows in the '40s and then eight more between 1988 and 2001; it's where David Letterman bombed.

Academy Awards Theater

When the studios withdrew their financial support, the Oscars had to downsize to the 985-seat theater in its Melrose Ave. headquarters for one year, 1949.

Pantages Theatre

Back in the money, the Oscars moved to Hollywood's spacious Pantages for the entire decade of the '50s.

Santa Monica Civic Auditorium

From 1961 to 1968, the Academy went to the beach, and to the 3,000-seat Santa Monica Civic.

Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

Much fancier digs beckoned in 1968 when the Oscars went back downtown to the newly constructed Chandler, home to the L.A. Philharmonic and site of 19 consecutive shows, and 25 in all.

Kodak/Dolby Theatre

In 2002, the Oscars moved into a venue built just for them: the Kodak Theatre, which has since been renamed the Dolby.

1 of 11

In their 88 years, the Oscars have only occupied 10 different Academy Awards theaters. To celebrate the move into the Kodak Theatre in 2002, designer Arnold Schwartzman created a set of old-fashioned postcards depicting every stop along the way